Virtual times with Tpas – Keeping calm and carrying On
Thursday 2nd of April 2020
Who would have thought …….. two months ago where we would be right now. The words resonating in my ears are ‘social isolation’ ‘2 metres apart’ ‘washing hands thoroughly’ and ‘working from home’.
I have worked from home for over 14 years now and love it but I know it has its ups and downs especially around seeing and talking to people face to face.
As everyone else will have had to do I have been re-arranging my Tpas diary so that any face to face work has now been replaced with either telephone calls, video conferencing, or on line forums and collecting information through on line surveys with tenants and or staff
This week has included working with a social housing organisation around the best ways in which we can collect ‘engagement evidence’ from tenants, board members and staff instead of face to face focus groups and interviews we have agreed a programme of telephone calls, face to face virtual meetings and some on line surveys through survey monkey for both tenants and staff. This has worked brilliantly and was a great opportunity for me to chat to others outside of Tpas and to hear their stories. The engagement evidence was collected as part of the organisations Tpas re-accreditation assessment.
It is amazing how once we have all got more used to these uncertain times – we have creatively worked around keeping contact with our members, delivering different approaches to working with you and keeping our communication channels open and easily accessible for all of our wonderful members and clients.
There have been some amazing examples of communities coming together to support one another during this very difficult time e.g. communities working together to support those in isolation through getting shopping; prescriptions etc keeping contact through phone calls and video links and creating virtual networks of people willing to support others. Tpas will always be there to help and support in whatever ways we can during these uncertain times by using our creativity and flexibility to ensure we can find solutions with and for you
We will all have to adjust the way in which we work to a more virtual world but the importance of communication and connecting with others cannot be underestimated we can help support YOU. Please just give us a ring or drop us an e mail and lets have a chat
TeamTpas says – Lets keep calm; carry on; and keep in contact